Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Abrasive and disjointed, Make Us Proud
reminds me a lot of the noise rock AmpRep was pumping out some 20
years ago. But, you can't pigeonhole Bad Creeps' sound down to just
that. There's a little bit of a powerviloence undertone and a totally
snarky feel to it all. It's fucking rad. My only complaint is that
mix seems a little muted, especially on the vocals. I'd have liked to
hear those shrieks and barks louder. It's not that big a
deal. What is a big deal is that this is limited to 50 copies, so you better
keep your fingers crossed there is one or two still left for you.

Remember back in high school when one
of your pals dropped blotters for the first time and was all
“Dude...The colors, I can hear them!” Well, now you too can
finally hear that chromesthesiatic trip, thanks to Mt. Tjhris and
this tape. It's a prismatic spray in the audio spectrum, the sound
of light refracting through a million crystals. I won't lie,
Amethyst Cave's whole new age, purple crystal healing sounds vibe is
way too Hearts of Space for me, but the actual music is solid.
Bubbly, synth ambiance, with some trance-y drone tossed in for good
measure. Recommended, especially for all you clairvoyants who want a
soundtrack to your crystal gazing.

All to
frequently “post-black metal” is code for hipster dicks playing
at some bullshit, ironic, art school, quasi-black metal sound.
Thankfully, this is not the case with null. Consisting of 4 massive
tracks blending vaguely melodic black metal and guitar fueled
dronescapes, Miasma is totally overwhelming. I can see a lot of
black metal purists being turned off by this, but fuck them, it's
their loss. Required listening for anyone who enjoys progressive and
creative black metal type stuff. The only unfortunate aspect about
Miasma is that it marks the end of null. Oh well, better to go out
with a bang, right?

Make sure the Pabst is ice cold and
that sweet wizard-shaped bong is packed, 'cause it's time to pop this
monster into the tape deck. Totally pummeling, crushing sludge spaced out
over two 45 minute cassettes, how the fuck could you not love Slaw?
The production is surprising clean for music that sounds so grimy,
but it works. These dudes have a kind of minimalistic sound going; no
psychedelic guitar solos or southern rock action, it's just a
pulverizing wave of sludge. Why the fuck are you still reading my
ramblings and not out snagging a copy?

Ok, so this is a totally rad idea. Put
together a huge comp that consists entirely of two-man bands. Duets is 16
bands and over an hour and a half of tunes. Mostly synth and
electronic action from the groups, but there's some other styles
thrown in as well. All fairly solid tracks, standouts for me were the
rumbler from Brother Raven, the meditative guitar drones from Century
Planet, and a plodding rock instrumental from Big Sky. And that's
just the A side; on the flip there solid tracks from Blood on Tape,
Sundrips, & Grasshopper. Diggin it.

Monday, August 6, 2012

I'm not quite sure if the 156 fits the
definition of musique concrète, so I'll use the more generic 'sound
collage'. It's not really a genre I'm particularly interested in and
the truth is I snagged this tape not knowing what I'd find on it. I
was down in Fort Lauderdale digging though the local section of an
indie record store when I stumbled upon Frontyard/Backyard. I didn't
know anything about the project or the label, but the man behind 156,
Adel Souto, is a name I recognize. For those unaware, Mr. Souto used
to publish the Feast of Fear and Hate zine (remember when people did
paper zines?), which I read voraciously back in high school. Anyhow,
this is a collection of field recordings and musical-ish sounds
created with tools, metal scraps, and whatever else, that have been
interwoven. As I said before, this type of stuff doesn't really pique
my interest, but I did find the album to be strangely hypnotic.
Listening to it in a noisy, metropolitan area, Frontyard/Backyard
didn't blend in, but rather stood out as a different, but similar,
set of sound. I found myself trancing out in a strange place in
between what was the white noise of the city and the music from 156.
Does that make any sense? Anyhow, if you're into unusual sound
collages and experimental field recordings, check this out.

Dragon Turtle and Eric de Jesus – The
Second Summer of Love/The Leaves on the Trees were Green with Youth
7"

I feel like this is one of those 'good
idea in theory' type of things that doesn't manage to pan out in
reality. You've got a spoken word dude reading over a band's music;
sounds interesting. The main problem is that the vocal levels are
botched and Eric de Jesus sounds staticy and muted, especially on The
Leaves... side. On top of that, de Jesus' prose doesn't particularly
appeal to me; it's not bad or anything, just not my deal. I did find
myself enjoying Dragon Turtle's kinda shoegaze-y, mellow math-rock; but that wasn't enough to save this ep. I
wanted to like this, but it left me rather underwhelmed.

If you've been jonesing for some synch
action, Lunar Miasma has got what you need. This rad little tape kicks
off with a massive track of shimmering electronics. All crystal
visions and tigers floating in space, you know? The next
track takes it down a notch, with this mysterious, low key vibe
going. On the flip there's another impressive piece of sci-fi
sounding weirdness and finally a calm journey delving deep into the id.
Managing The Dream is an astral burner, a soundtrack for the
unconscious mind.

I'm not big into either punk or garage
rock, but I'm finding myself digging this ep. Rose Cross plays
short songs of fuzzy punk rock about ghosts, the apocalypse, and
relationships. The really stand out aspect about Rose Cross is the
shout/sung female vocals, which gives the band a particularly unique
sound. I'm diggin' it, go snag a copy.